AN 81-year-old Kinver cyclist who smashed the one-hour world record for his age group said he was disappointed with the result.

Stourbridge Cycling Club veteran Walter Fowler clocked up 35.772km at the Newport Velodrome on Saturday (October 24) to set an impressive new UCI Masters 80-84 world best.

A sprinter at heart, Walter – who also holds world-best times for the flying 200 and 500m time trial – had to overhaul New Zealander Peter Grandiek’s distance of 29.187km, set earlier this month.

And he did so in style, improving the record by 6.585km – a little over four miles – at an average of 25.17 seconds per 250-metre lap.

However, Walter suffered from cramp during the final 10 minutes of his world-record breaking attempt, meaning he fell just short of his own personal bid to reach 36km.

He said: “I set a target of 36km so I’m disappointed in failing to make that. I was short by nearly a lap.

“But cramp was a fear of mine and it struck in my right leg in the last 10 minutes, so I couldn’t go as hard as I had intended to.

“I passed the old record with about 12 minutes to go, so the most important thing was to ensure I finished. It would have been devastating to have had to pull up because I’d pushed too hard.”

Members of Stourbridge CC provided Walter’s all-important support team during his successful record attempt, while his son Stephen and granddaughter Natasha were on lap-counting duty.

He now has a hat-trick of world records in his age group and will aim to make it a clean sweep by adding the pursuit crown to his collection at the World Masters in Manchester next October.

Walter added: “My legs are a bit stiff and sore but I’m recovering well and a couple of pilates sessions will certainly help.

“I now have a year to prepare for the pursuit record, but the gauntlet has been well and truly thrown down there.

“The record is a very quick 2min 50.933sec over 2km, but I’ll train hard and give it a go in 12 months’ time.”